Little did the Shepherds know that Chrom was the one who stayed up at night.
As silence slipped over the Shepherd's camp, a blue-haired royal sat on one of their makeshift log-benches. After another long day of fighting in Valm, Chrom was hardly able to keep his eyes open. Leading the charge was one of the hardest jobs, and the heat wasn't helping. While protecting those he loved was one of the things he would never grown tired of, he did still grow tired from it. His chin dipped low before kissing the gleaming silver of his armor, his eyes closed with the gift of sleep.
Little did he know that he was not alone.
Behind him, a thorn-coated bush rustled with an unseen occupant. The darkness covered the green foliage with a warm cloak, shielding the creature inside. A pair of gleaming orange eyes peered out in the dark, staring at the lonesome Exalt across the way. The tangerine orbs blinked before hiding away in the night.
The bush rustled one last time before the figure inside slipped out, silent in the black cloak of night. Their feet silently moved across the clearing, heading straight for the slumbering royal. Chrom, leader of the Shepherds and Exalt of Ylisse just sat there, unaware of the approaching figure. Such unawareness was unlike him; usually, even the sound of bending grass would alert him of an approaching person. However, tonight his awareness seemed on par with a rock, uncaring or unknowing of any who happened to walk around or on them.
The figure slipped past the Shepherds' city of tents and outlying rocks with ease, indistinguishable from the night sky. The darkness wrapped around them as their footsteps silently moved ever closer to the sleeping man. They were so close now. They could almost see the way his hair brushed in his sleep.
This was so easy. How could the Shepherds allow their leader, the literal head of Ylisse just sit around with his lonesome, outside, in the dead of night? Had the war worn them down to the point of carelessness? The figure just smirked at the thought. They were not to turn down an easy victory, after all.
The glow of candlelight slipped out of the Exalt's tent as the figure slipped past. They did not even so much as cast a shadow on the oft-repaired canvas as they walked on by. Even the man's family, so often by his side, was nowhere to be found at this hour. Even his daughter, so close to him was fast asleep, captured by the realm of night. The intruder was so close now, they could even start to see the way Chrom's blue hair brushed against his ears in his sleep.
The figure stopped dead as they found themselves merely inches from Chrom's sleeping form. Their shadow threw a blanket of darkness over his cape of white as they stood there, their orange eyes gleaming with pleasure and triumph. A flash of white emerged in the clearing for a few frantic heartbeats, exposing long, unusually sharp canine teeth that gleamed in the dim starlight. Only seconds later they were sealed behind a smirk, hidden from view.
"Oh, you poor little shepherd boy," the figure sneered. The voice was light with victory and amusement as they found their target sitting there, trapped in the heavy weight of slumber. The lift of their voice exposed them to be of the feminine variety, a female intruder to their camp. The woman just chuckled before speaking once again. "You should know better than to fall asleep near a wolf."
Then, with a devious grin, the woman pounced on him.
A gasp of shock filled the air as the Exalt crashed against the ground, shoved into the dirt by his midnight attacker. Blue eyes snapped open to find a shadow-cloaked woman trying to pin him to the ground, orange eyes gleaming in the night air. He clenched his teeth in shock before struggling against her, knocking her back into the log he had occupied only moments ago. The woman let out no sound as she just used the force of his push to pull him with her, sending him over the log and face upwards to the sky.
Orange eyes gleamed as the woman pushed down on him, one arm around his neck and the other holding his sword arm behind his back. Chrom struggled to breathe as he cursed leaving his Falchion in his own tent. Why would he leave it behind like this? However, his captor must have known of his distress, for she just let out a chuckle.
"Missing your fancy sword, Exalt?" Her voice shifted in tone slightly, almost as if she was trying to disguise her voice. The man in her grasp stiffened as his ears caught her voice, desperate and throbbing. Her voice was familiar to him, so familiar that he knew that it was someone he knew.
The voice continued with her speech of triumph unhindered, the target resting her her arms. "You should have known better than this, you know. How could the leader of the Shepherds and Exalt of Ylisse just fall asleep in the middle of a clearing like this?" She chuckled and shook her head, allowing her hair to brush against his cheeks and tickle his skin. "You should be more careful around a wolf, you know."
Suddenly, everything clicked in Chrom's mind.
The man's clenched teeth shifted into a grin as he just leaned back in her grasp, giving up entirely. The weight against his neck slackened for a fraction of a second, giving him the golden opportunity of escape. However, he simply ignored it. The man's captor let out a bit of a disappointed growl before jolting his complying form, jerking his head backwards before letting it snap forwards.
"H-Hey!" The woman seemed very unhappy with his giving up on her. "W-What do you think you're doing?! Are you seriously just going to give up and allow me to do away with you, Exalt?" Chrom just grinned and nodded, letting his hair brush against her nose. The woman sneezed in result, but she went on with her anger anyway. "What kind of man does that?"
"A man who knows that this so-called 'wolf' is nothing more than an over-rambunctious pup," Chrom stated simply. He then chuckled before tilting his head back to see his captor, the pressure on his neck nearly nothing more than an embrace at this point. His eyes drifted over the shadows of a hood before closing with satisfaction. "Nice try, Robin. You win this time."
The woman, cover blown and dignity gone with the wind, just let out a huff before snapping her arms open to release the royal from her grasp. "Ugh." She grumbled as the blue-haired man rose to his feet. "You're no fun even when I win, Chrom." The Exalt just laughed at her behavior and gave her a quick ruffle of her hair, startling her into a blush.
Perhaps he should start watching where he fell asleep...
Author's Note: A drabble I wrote for my Tumblr. Hope you enjoy!
